According to the World Bank Group, Latvia is among the top 25 countries where it is easiest to do business. Latvia's performance in starting a business is similar to that of the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden, all highly respected jurisdictions with developed economic and business environments.

Procedure for setting up a business
On average, opening a company in Latvia requires 4 procedures. Here, the word "procedure" refers to an interaction with a relevant government agency or other institution, be it a business register or a bank to open a corporate bank account in Latvia. Although the exact number of procedures may change depending on the circumstances, in general these are:

Preparation and certification of all necessary documents
Opening a Latvian corporate bank account
Company registration and registration for taxes
Registration of employees for state social security
It is worth noting that some of these procedures, e.g. Registration for state social security, can be completed online. However, the Latvian company registration procedure is not a so-called “one-stop shop”. This means that opening a company in Latvia requires interaction with several different institutions and it is not possible to register everything in one place.

Time required to start a business
How long it takes to incorporate a company in Latvia depends on which country you open the company in. Opening a Latvian company from Latvia takes about 6 business days on average. If you are incorporating a company from other European countries or Central Asia countries, it may take up to 10 business days. For countries classified by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) as high-income countries - around 8 business days.

The longest procedure is usually company registration and registration for taxes, it takes about 60% of the total time required to set up a company in Latvia. The preparation of the documents and the opening of a bank account each take about 20% of the total time. Enrolling workers for National Social Security is an online process, so the time required is negligible as enrollment is done on-site.

Company density
While store density does not directly affect store opening procedures, it is a reliable indicator of the process. The more companies there are in the country, the easier it is to start a business, although this does not necessarily mean that a small number of companies means more difficult procedures. As of 2016, there are about 14,000 new companies that have only recently registered. This roughly corresponds to a number of newly founded companies in Estonia or Denmark. However, measured by the number of businesses per 1000 working-age inhabitants, Latvia is one of the most active countries in Europe. Currently (2016) there are about 10.6 businesses per 1000 working-age population, which is more than in Germany, France, Italy and many other European countries, only after the UK.